Dozens dead after bomb blast in Damascus

At least 40 are dead after double bomb blasts in Qazaz in the south of Damascus.

The attacks hit military intelligence headquarters and have been claimed by the Nusra Front, a small Islamist group. The Guardian is reporting that the group appears to be real, rather than a figment of state media’s usual wild imagination.

However, the SNC, itself no stranger to conspiracy theories, is already blaming the government despite a lack of evidence.

The SNC says the army planted the bombs to scare the UN monitors into going home – even though it previously accused the regime of using the monitors to buy time. Can’t have it both ways.

The plight of the Druze hostages:Why Washington should change its approach in Syria By Talal el-Atrache – @TalalElAtrache For Syria Comment – 8 Nov 2018 Throughout the Syrian war, the Southern Province of Sweida, in coordination with the Syrian army, had succeeded in protecting itself against the jihadist attacks on the province’s Western border with Deraa, […]

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Is Corbynism anti-Semitic? My answer won’t please many people. It won’t please those who believe that criticism of Israel, and especially questioning Israel’s ‘right to exist’, is inherently anti-Semitic. I think it’s important to recognise that Israel has existed for seven decades, and that therefore several generations of Israeli Jews exist. These people are no […]

My review of this excellent novel was first published at the Guardian. From a fertility clinic waiting room, a single woman seated between couples – Kimiâ – recounts her family history. She promises at the start to follow “the natural fits and starts” of memory, and her narrative jumps across a time scale from a […]

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Last month, I wrote an essay for NewYorker.com about Reza Aslan’s new CNN show, “Believer.” Here’s the first paragraph with a link to the rest of the piece. In other news, I’m on my way to Lebanon this evening to attend the School of Mamluk Studies’ annual conference, which is being held this year at the […]